Sustainability in South Suburban

The District is committed to sustainability and stewardship of the environment through conservation measures that reduce water and energy usage, improve the natural environment, protect natural resources and provide significant savings to the District and its residents.

Check out our sustainability practices, including our energy performance contract, the purchase of 725 solar panels in two local solar gardens and our partnership with Clean Energy Collective and work with McKinstry.

Recycling and Waste Diversion

The re‐use of recycled materials helps reduce the waste that is going into landfills.

David A. Lorenz Regional Park is an example of a successful reuse of a former landfill. The design also includes recycled materials in the asphalt parking lot, infield sports mix at ball fields, and reusing concrete from Stapleton Airport for parking blocks and retaining walls.

Use of materials in playground structures that have recycled content in the steel and plastic.

Use of recycled content in fences and benches.

Use of recycled tires for infill at our synthetic fields.

Collection and annual “cleaning” of dirt collected from sod jobs, turf repair, construction projects, irrigation repairs, aeration cores and similar projects. We use this amended top soil as topdressing material on our athletic fields throughout the year.

Sponsorship of an annual Christmas tree drop‐off in late December through mid-January where trees are chipped and used for mulch in parks, diverting the trees from landfills.

Implementation of district-wide recycling in our parks and facilities.

Diversion of plant waste from landfills by composting within the horticulture and forestry departments as well as reusing or recycling planting containers.

Air Quality Improvement

Air quality measures improve the environment and reduce the brown cloud. Some air quality measures we have implemented are:

Implementation and the use of GIS technology to develop routing plans and combining trips to reduce routine maintenance vehicle miles traveled.

Installation of software to remotely control District computers to reduce trips to facility locations.

Annual tree and shrub plantings in the parks and along the trails to help cleanse the air by intercepting airborne particles, reducing heat, and absorbing such pollutants as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Trees remove this air pollution by lowering air temperature, through respiration, and by retaining particulates.

Human and Environmental Health

We are working to improve our health and environment by improving habitat for both residents and our resident wildlife.

Use of integrated Pest Management practices to best identify and treat pest and diseases. The horticulture and forestry department has reduced fungicides use at the War Memorial Rose Garden.

Tree plantings along the South Platte River to improve the habitat, environmental quality and aesthetics of this heavily travelled corridor.

Wetlands projects on the creeks, streams and lakes have been installed to clean water before it is put back into the drainage system.

Leaving of perches, snags and deadfall in open space areas to provide habitat for wildlife.

Our recreation facilities, parks and trails foster healthy living by promoting both indoor and outdoor activities to reduce nature deficient disorder and obesity among children and adults.

Sustainability Committee

In June 2012,
we created an internal Sustainability Committee. Employees from across the
District and from
The Hudson Gardens and Event Center help continue to improve our
stewardship of the resources entrusted to us by our community.

The Committee
works to identify and apply sustainable practices in design, construction,
operations, and maintenance throughout the District